Snow causes closure of rural Thunder Bay schools
The Thunder Bay area's first major snowfall of the winter has led to the closure of some rural schools.
A yellow winter storm warning remains in effect for the city, west to the Atikokan area, and the north shore, on Wednesday afternoon. A yellow warning means "hazardous weather may cause damage, disruption or health impacts," but those impacts are expected to be localized and short-term.
Still, Environment Canada, said 10 to 20 centimetres of snow is expected by the time the storm tapers off on Wednesday night, along with winds gusting to 70 km/h.
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Those winds caused problems for north-side Thunder Bay resident Jim Lees and his family on Wednesday morning.
Lees and his wife Cathy heard a loud crack when they were having coffee on Wednesday morning as a large tree came crashing down onto his front fence.
"Luckily it didn't get too much on the road," Lees said, taking a break from cutting the fallen tree with a chainsaw. "It didn't hit any wires. It destroyed the part of the fence there."
The storm also led to the closure of rural schools around Thunder Bay.
In a media release issued Wednesday morning, Lakehead Public Schools said due to poor visibility, and wet and heavy snow, all rural student transportation was cancelled on Wednesday.
Crestview, Five Mile, Gorham and Ware, Kakabeka Falls, McKenzie, Nor'Wester View, Valley Central, and Whitefish Valley schools were closed Wednesday, as well.
In another media release, Student Transportation Services, said all public and Catholic schools in Thunder Bay remained open, and all city school bus routes were in operation on Wednesday.
A man walks down a snow-covered sidewalk in Thunder Bay on Wednesday morning. (Marc Doucette/CBC)
In the region, Algoma and Huron-Superior Transportation Services said it was cancelling student transportation in its northern area on Wednesday. That includes the towns of Hornepayne and White River.
However, city schools remained open, with crossing guards like Thunder Bay's Christopher Leonzio helping students safely make their way to school.
"We do a fitness test to make sure that we're able to actually get out here throughout the year, so they make sure we're prepared," he said.
But, Leonzio said, he doesn't find winter storm warnings too intimidating.
"I'm a northerner, so I don't really worry about it," he said. "I got gloves, hat, two pairs of socks, I'm okay."
Aidan Grasley with his 1991 Suzuki Carry. (Marc Doucette/CBC)
One student that wasn't too affected was Aidan Grasley, who was driving his 1991 Suzuki Carry kei, or mini-truck, to Confederation College on Wednesday morning.
Grasley imported the truck from Japan, and said Wednesday was his first time driving it in the snow.
"It is fully carbureted, has no electronics, no sensors, no ABS," Grasley said as he filled the truck up at a gas station. "It's cheap, it's easy to maintain, there's insane visibility inside of it, it fits everywhere."
And it was handling itself well during the winter's first snowfall, Grasley said.
"This thing handles hilariously well in the snow," he said. "It's manual four-speed, with a high/low differential, so I just put it in four high and it's actually working really well."
The weather also caused some traffic disruptions around the northwest on Wednesday.
According to Ontario 511, a collision on Highway 11 closed one lane at Wilja Drive West in Kakabeka Falls, and a section of Highway 11 in the Longlac area has been closed due to weather.
Meanwhile, the snowfall means the City of Thunder Bay has implemented winter priority route and calendar parking restrictions for the winter as of 9 a.m. Wednesday. Calendar parking restrictions keep one side of a street clear per day to allow for snow plowing, and are in effect between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.
Route restrictions prohibit parking on priority snowplow routes between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. daily.
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This article was originally published for CBC News.